UNITED STATES
The Blaze

Stephen Herreid

This week the Vatican announced the creation of a new tribunal to hold bishops accountable for sex abuse cover-ups. A Vatican spokesman echoed the pleas of many victim advocates when he went beyond the topic of individual predator priests and singled out negligent bishops.

“This is another kind of responsibility and shortcoming, and has to be judged in an appropriate way with appropriate rules,” he said.

While conservatives may have serious qualms with Pope Francis, his handling of sex-abuse cover-ups provides an opportunity to practice humility when seeming ideological allies are implicated. This week’s tribunal announcement should remind us of earlier actions the pope has taken to combat cover-ups. Embarrassingly, not all of us have welcomed his efforts.

Last February, hundreds of priests rustled into the Paul VI Audience Hall for a meeting with Pope Francis. Some of them, dressed in the now-rare…